10 Dec 2008

So I've been surfing looking up on tips on free-handing ect. after seeing Jawaball's amazing Banner (the videos are on youtube) so I thought I'd brush up (no pun intended...okay maybe a little) so here's what i've learnt:

-Always rince the brush throroughly after each colour, especially went painting tiny details, use warm water and brush soap (if you don't have any get some it's brilliant stuff and can rescue the brushes with huge globs of dried on paint) make sure you dry it well afterwards as you don't want the next colour to run

-Use tiny amounts of paint, as small as you can really

-Free handing is not really based on you're painting skill it's more your drawing skill, if needbe use one of those pens (can't be any other help i don't have one yet myself) and mark out a rough design

-Never drink or eat any food stuffs containing caffine or a large amount of sugar before free-handing (or whilsts) as these will make your hands shake making it all but impossible to paint accuratley

-Practice drawing, a good idea is to actually draw the design you want to paint first as you'll be used to the design

-Paint everyday (not neciserily free handing), even if it's litrelly only for 5 minutes as this will make your painting much more... good

-Speaking of lines draw basic shapes with a paint brush (use a colour you use very little of or have a lot of) because most designs are just made up of basic shapes and the detail is added in later.

-If you are trying something really hard make sure you leave the previous colour to dry COMPLETLY before applying the next as you can just use a wet paper towel or something to wipe it off quickly so you don't spoil your design

-You want you're really ambitiously painted HQ units to look great, so practice it on things like seargens, vehicles so you get a better feel for free-handing

In the end it's mostly down to you're drawing skill (epic fail for me) and practice makes perfect... although nobodys perfect... so whats the point in practicing? Okay ignore that practice does make you better.

Hope some of these have been useful and if not... damn

P.S. (my initials which is kinda weird) I've just started listening to 40K radio and Worlds end radio. two warhammer based podcasts, I've also downloaded an episode of Podhammer which is an entirely fantasy based one but i'm yet to listen to it. I think you should at least have a listen of one or two, i like to listen to this stuff when painting rank-and-file minis which can get very tiring after a while.

So I've been surfing looking up on tips on free-handing ect. after seeing Jawaball's amazing Banner (the videos are on youtube) so I thought I'd brush up (no pun intended...okay maybe a little) so here's what i've learnt:

-Always rince the brush throroughly after each colour, especially went painting tiny details, use warm water and brush soap (if you don't have any get some it's brilliant stuff and can rescue the brushes with huge globs of dried on paint) make sure you dry it well afterwards as you don't want the next colour to run

-Use tiny amounts of paint, as small as you can really

-Free handing is not really based on you're painting skill it's more your drawing skill, if needbe use one of those pens (can't be any other help i don't have one yet myself) and mark out a rough design

-Never drink or eat any food stuffs containing caffine or a large amount of sugar before free-handing (or whilsts) as these will make your hands shake making it all but impossible to paint accuratley

-Practice drawing, a good idea is to actually draw the design you want to paint first as you'll be used to the design

-Paint everyday (not neciserily free handing), even if it's litrelly only for 5 minutes as this will make your painting much more... good

-Speaking of lines draw basic shapes with a paint brush (use a colour you use very little of or have a lot of) because most designs are just made up of basic shapes and the detail is added in later.

-If you are trying something really hard make sure you leave the previous colour to dry COMPLETLY before applying the next as you can just use a wet paper towel or something to wipe it off quickly so you don't spoil your design

-You want you're really ambitiously painted HQ units to look great, so practice it on things like seargens, vehicles so you get a better feel for free-handing

In the end it's mostly down to you're drawing skill (epic fail for me) and practice makes perfect... although nobodys perfect... so whats the point in practicing? Okay ignore that practice does make you better.

Hope some of these have been useful and if not... damn

P.S. (my initials which is kinda weird) I've just started listening to 40K radio and Worlds end radio. two warhammer based podcasts, I've also downloaded an episode of Podhammer which is an entirely fantasy based one but i'm yet to listen to it. I think you should at least have a listen of one or two, i like to listen to this stuff when painting rank-and-file minis which can get very tiring after a while.